Various forms of toy racing car sets are known where an endless track is provided and electrically driven cars under the control of individual operators are raced against one another around the track. There are two main systems. The first is often known as slot racing since the track is provided with a slot and a corresponding pin projects down from underneath the car into the slot and guides the car around its defined lane of the track. The other system is known by contrast as slotless racing and each car is not constrained to follow a particular lane but can swap from one lane to another. The invention relates specifically to cars for use in the slotless car racing system.
In a slotless car racing system, the car is provided with contacts which bear against continuous electrical conductors embedded in the surface of the track and in this way the car's motor receives power to drive it along. Normally two sets of three parallel strips of conductors are provided to define two lanes around the track. In this way one car can receive power from two of the conductor strips, whether it be positioned in one or other lane, whilst a second car can receive power from the third conductor strip and one of the other two conductor strips in common with the first car, again irrespective of the lane it is following.
There are various ways of causing a car remotely to switch from one lane to the other. The most common uses a change in the polarity of the driving current to the motor to change the direction of rotation of the motor. A drive system is then provided between the motor and the driving wheels which ensures that the drive wheels continue to drive the car in the forward direction irrespective of the direction of the rotation of the motor. A change in the direction of the motor however can be used to control the direction in which the car veers or steers whether to the left or to the right so as remotely to change from one lane to the other according to the operator's wishes. In this way racing cars can follow a particular lane such as the inside lane at a bend but an operator can arrange for his car to move to the outer lane to overtake a slower car.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved drive system between the motor and the rear wheels in such cars, the arrangement being simple in construction, reliable in operation and easy to assemble since previous drive systems have not been entirely satisfactory in these respects.